In the Beginning...

I don't know your particular beliefs on Creationism or even on God for that matter. I've talked before in this blog about issues I have with the Big Bang Theory and evolution and, I'll admit, there are a couple things about the strict literal interpretation of the Bible's account of creation that I don't understand. That's not the point of this entry.

I take it on faith that the Bible's account is true, and, even if some of the things such as the literal interpretation of "day" aren't the same as we know them, I believe in the Garden of Eden and Adam and Eve as the first people.

When I read other stories in the Bible, I see a lack of confidence in so many places. Gideon saw a miracle and then tested God twice before He was willing to follow Him. Moses saw and argued with a burning bush. He knew full well it was God and God was talking to Him like we talk to each other, yet he basically said, "Uh-uh. I'm not good enough to do that. I'm just a shepherd and besides, I stutter." Saul was so angry that David was more highly praised than he was that he sought to kill David.

You don't see this before the Fall, even though God's commands to Adam and Eve were more daunting. Gideon was told to lead an army, Moses to free a people, and Saul to rule them justly; Adam and Eve were told to name everything and conquer the planet. Their response? From all we can tell, it was, "Ok, we got this." No argument, no "I'm not worthy" protestations, nothing.

That all changed when they were tempted by the snake. They were told that God had withheld something from them and they believed it. Two things happened in that moment: they started to doubt God's goodness and they started to doubt whether they were good enough. They knew the tree was called the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, and they hadn't eaten of it to that point. They didn't know what evil was, and they had been content not to know. They had been content with God's goodness and with their own value, even though they didn't know something. They doubted God's goodness, and their value is automatically called into question. Faith in God and self-confidence have been intrinsically linked ever since.

The truth: Your faith in yourself will never be stronger than your faith in God.

You may believe in yourself to do certain things well, but if you feel you keep having to do them, what does that say about your belief in your inherent self-worth? If your life would utterly fall apart and you'd feel worthless if one person walked out of it, what does that say about where you get your value? The fact is that your value comes from something outside of you and anything you can do, have done, haven't done, own, or accomplish and is not dependent on who likes you, respects you, or wants to be with you. Your value is because God created you and decided to love you.

And that will be the topic next time.